


Red

by Angelwithwingsoffire



Series: Prompts [19]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Hunter!Stiles, Multi, hunter!Danny, hunter!Scott, werewolf!Lydia
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-28
Updated: 2014-07-28
Packaged: 2018-02-10 17:48:57
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 13,645
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2034327
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Angelwithwingsoffire/pseuds/Angelwithwingsoffire
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Scott, Stiles, and Danny are three of the best hunters in the world. They're called the Black Swords. And they never fail to kill their targets. But now they've been captured by the Hale pack of Beacon Hills. But this pack is different from all the things they've ever heard about werewolves. They don't hurt them for the fun of it. They don't torture them or force the bite on them. They're kind. And it throws everything these three have ever known straight out the window. Can they relearn an entire life's worth of prejudice? Or will they hold true to what they were taught?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Red

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Kendall](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kendall/gifts).



> This fic is the result of combining two prompts sent to me on tumblr [here](http://perfectalphadouchebag.tumblr.com/post/93069781734/bamf-scott-pairing-scisaac) & [here](http://perfectalphadouchebag.tumblr.com/post/93070000519/scisaac).  
> It is also a gift to [Kendall](http://archiveofourown.org/users/Kendall/pseuds/Kendall) because he's cool and wrote me a gift and I wanted to pay him back for that as well as allowing me to rant with him on tumblr when people are stupid:)

“I have a bad feeling about this.” Stiles muttered.

“It’ll be fine.” Scott said. “We’re in, we’re out, we’re gone. Just like always.”

“I agree with Stiles.” Danny muttered. “It feels… _wrong_.”

“Nothing is fucking wrong.” Scott said firmly. “We go in, we kill the fuckers, we get the fuck out, and we get the fuck gone. Alright?”

The other two nodded.

“Alright.” Stiles muttered.

“I won’t argue.” Danny whispered.

“Then let’s do this.” Scott said.

The other two nodded and the trio was on the move. They worked their way quietly through the trees. Scott already had his sword out and Danny and Stiles both had two of their guns in hand. The three moved easily in complete silence, only needing the slightest signals to tell each other about fallen limbs or rabbit holes that could jeopardize their mission. This mission is one they have performed many times before and will most likely perform many times in the future. A simple elimination. Get in, kill the targets, and get out. All without being caught. They’ve never been caught before. They always said their luck was with them on that. But tonight, their luck was not with them.

Out of the trees came nearly a dozen weres, all shifted, and all snarling. Stiles and Danny both got a few shots off before being taken down but Scott didn’t have a chance. He was the target of four fully shifted wolves and they knocked him to the ground, his sword falling from his hand, and then everything went black.

~

“We can’t kill them.” Cora hissed. “We aren’t killers.”

“They were going to kill us.” Lydia pointed out. “I’m all for killing them.”

“Not until we know more.” Derek said. The argument stopped immediately as none of them were going to argue with Derek, but there was still tension in the air. The Hale Pack has never had trouble before. Ever since they made a truce with the Argents and their allies they’ve been safe. Up until now.

“Who are they?” Kira asked, looking at the three boys chained together around the support pole of the basement they were all standing in.

“The Black Swords.” Allison answered. “I’d recognize that one anywhere.” She said, nodding towards the boy with the red streaks in his hair. The one that had been wielding a sword when they’d attacked them.

“Who is he?” Erica asked.

“He’s known only as Red.” Allison answered. “Famous in the Wereslayer community. Him and his two partners are the best in the business. Together they’re called the Black Swords. I’d bet anything those two are his partners.”

“What are they known as?” Jackson asked.

“Nothing.” Allison said. “They’ve never been seen before, anywhere, on any tapes. Never. The only name they bear is the Black Swords with Red. He’s always there. He signs his kills by leaving a red card on the bodies.”

“I’ve heard of him.” Aiden spoke up. “He’s known as Red because of all the blood he’s spilled. Only after that name became famous did he start leaving the cards.”

“These three have infiltrated and ‘eliminated’ more packs than most slayers do in their entire lives.” Allison said, looking at Derek. “They’re too dangerous to keep alive.”

“I want them alive.” Derek said coldly. “I want to find out who sent them.”

“They won’t talk.” Allison told him. “You know they won’t. There’s rumors in the community that it’s the McCall family that runs the Black Swords. That trained them. You remember them, I’m sure.”

Derek didn’t move but Cora reached up to press a hand to the scar on her neck. The scar she bears because the McCall family burned down the Hale family house and nearly the entire family with it.

“We should find out if there are more.” Boyd said calmly.

Allison grit her teeth. “Fine. But if they try to escape I’m going to shoot all three of them.”

“What about this thing?” Kira asked, picking up the sword Red had been carrying.

“None of you wolves touch it.” Allison said quickly.

“Why not?” Lydia asked. She looked a little nervous as she moved closer to Allison, taking comfort in the former hunter’s closeness.

“Red’s sword is said to be infused with wolfsbane.” Allison told them. “They say he forged it himself and used wolfsbane water to temper the steel.”

“Don’t touch the blade.” Derek said. “Alright then. And I’m assuming the bullets the other two had are wolfsbane as well?”

“Or mistletoe.” Allison agreed.

“Wonderful.” Cora muttered. “More fucking wolfsbane for our ever growing collection of things that could kill us.”

“I’ll lock them up.” Isaac said, stepping forward with a sigh.

“Leave the sword.” Lydia told him. “I want to look at it.”

Isaac glanced at Derek, who nodded, and then nodded at Lydia. He gathered together all the guns and bullets from the two that had carried them and left the room with it all.

“This is bad.” Ethan said, speaking for the first time since they’d come down to look at the captives. “If the McCall family has marked us for death, there will be no stopping them. Not without something big.”

“You said the same thing about the Argents.” Lydia reminded him, moving slightly to stand in front of Allison. No matter how badass the human was, Lydia couldn’t help but be protective. “And look how that turned out.”

“Allison was given a normal childhood.” Ethan said. “She got love and people who cared about her without knowing that the monsters under her bed were real and that her parents were killers. The McCalls don’t give that. If Red is a McCall he will have been raised from the cradle to kill people like us. That’s what they do. They take children and turn them into monsters. Into _killers_.”

“You’ve seen them before.” Derek said softly, looking at his beta.

“When did you see McCalls?” Aiden asked, looking at his twin.

“That year we split up.” Ethan said, looking at Aiden. “They found me. I didn’t stop running for weeks. And then I found a kid. Said he was attacked by some men in the forest. Kept screaming at him to show his eyes. He looked so _scared_. I couldn’t help but believe him. His heart beat was so erratic with what I thought was terror that I didn’t even think that he could be lying.”

“And he was.” Erica said, looking a little horrified.

“And he was.” Ethan affirmed. “That night, when I’d fallen asleep because I stupidly assumed we were safe for just  a little while longer, that they were farther back than they really were, they came in the dark. I woke up with that little boy standing over me with a gun aimed between my eyes and fucking smirk on his face. They did everything they could possibly think of doing to me and then-”

“And then?” Kira asked gently. She had moved next to Ethan and put a hand on his arms, always the comforter.

“And then they let me go.” Ethan said. “I never knew why and I never saw them again. I stayed the hell away from them. I found my brother and I found you guys. I found a place where I was safe. And now they’re here.”

“They won’t hurt you.” Aiden said, stepping over to put his hands on Ethan’s shoulders and make his brother look at him. “They won’t hurt you again because I won’t let them.”

“None of us will.” Jackson said firmly. He’d started out hating Ethan but he was pack now and pack protected each other. “You’re safe here.”

Ethan nodded, looking at them.

“You’re gonna die.” A faint voice said.

All the wolves turned straight towards the new voice, coming from the one with the red streaks in his hair, the one Allison identified as Red. He was awake. His eyes were cracked open, the left one swollen shut a bit but the other was fine. His lip was bleeding and he was going to kill someone if his snakebites get infected. He had a smirk on his face, impressive for someone who looked as tired and beaten down as he did at that moment.

“Morning.” He muttered. “You’re gonna fucking die.”

“What makes you so sure?” Derek demanded.

Red looked at him, smirking with confidence no sane person has when in this sort of situation. “Because I’m the fucking Red. And I never miss my mark.”

“Well you did this time.” Cora growled at him.

Red moved his attention to her and his smirk got bigger. “Cora Hale.” He whispered. “I remember you. I listened to your screams as the wolfsbane bit into your skin. I slept good for a very long time after that.”

Cora snarled, lunging forward only to be held back by Derek.

“Calm down.” Derek growled, his voice low and dangerous. His eyes were glowing read.

“You must be Derek.” Red said, looking at the alpha in front of him. “She said you’d be the growly one.”

“Who?” Derek demanded.

Red grinned. “Like fucking hell I’m gonna tell a fucking monster like you the name of my superior. I’m not a rookie, Derek. This isn’t the first time I’ve been caught.”

“It’ll damn well be your last.” Jackson growled at them.

Red looked at him. “Jackson Whittemore. Son of lawyer David Whittemore, a lawyer who specializes in protecting werewolves in the court of law. Bitten by rouge Alpha Peter Hale. One of the nine werewolves that makes up the Hale pack of Beacon Hills. The Hale Pack leads the other packs of the town but is the smallest do to an ‘incident’ with a fire in a house that killed nearly the entire family.” Red spit towards him, his spit filled with blood. “I’ll enjoy killing you. As well as your friends. And then tracking that traitor father of yours down and tearing him limb from limb is going to please me all the more.”

Jackson dove forward and slammed his fist into Red’s face. “Enough from you.” Jackson spat.

Red spun back and grinned in Jackson’s face. “Now.” He spat. He rose to his feet, his partners rising besides him. They dove towards the pack, Red going straight for Lydia, who still held his sword. He wrenched the sword from her hands, swinging it around to slash her side and the arm of the person next to her, Kira. He fell back against the other two, who each had knives in their hands.

“You were supposed to take their weapons!” Derek roared at Cora.

“I did!” She shouted. “I don’t know where they got those.

“We’re just that fucking awesome.” One of them said, smirking wide. He was boyish looking with a huge smirk, a longer buzzcut, and moles that made him look younger than he probably was but he looked completely at ease with knives against wolves.

“Eliminate?” The other one asked. This one had sort of the same boyish look, dimples on both sides of his mouth as he grinned at the wolves circling around them.

“Eliminate.” Red spat.

As one the three of them dove forward, having no fear as they launched themselves towards the werewolves in front of them. The two partners spun their knives, slashing at whatever part of the nearest wolves they could get to. Red swung his sword, doing his best to try and decapitate Derek. That was his prime mission. Eliminate the alpha. For three humans they held their own very well, slashing and cutting away at them. Kira and Lydia had both retreated to the back of the room, holding smoking limbs to them, holding back screams. Allison and the buzzcut boy were head to head now, going knives against fists as she tried to disarm the male hunter. The boy didn’t stand a chance. On any other day he might have, but Allison had watched him sink a wolfsbane blade into Lydia’s arm and tear it out of her, not even wincing or hesitating at the piercing scream she’d launched into the air. Any woman who sees their ‘better half’ getting stabbed gets angry and an angry female hunter is someone who can take most men down. Soon enough she had the boyish-man pinned to the ground, a knee in his back and his own blade at his throat.

She looked up and saw Red on the ground with Derek and Ethan on his back and the other partner was pinned under Aiden and Jackson.

“Guess we aren’t dying today.” Derek said, looking down at Red.

Red just smiled up at him. “We aren’t the only ones coming for you. If we fail they will only send more. This pack is marked for extinction. And you will die.”

Derek growled and slammed Red’s head into the ground, knocking him out. He slid off of him and pulled Ethan off with him.

“Tie him up right this time.” Derek hissed.

Cora darted forward to do so while Derek looked at the wound on his arm that was smoking slightly.

“Lydia!” Allison shouted. She could see the redhead slumped against the wall, blood smeared everywhere. “Derek!” Allison shouted.

Derek looked up at her and then over at Lydia. Panic flashed across his face and then he strode across the room to where a blowtorch was laying. They’d used it once already to help burn the wolfsbane out of the wounds from the few shots they managed to get off in the forest when they’d captured them. He grabbed it and quickly got to Lydia’s side.

“Jackson take the other one.” Derek ordered. “Allison get over here.”

Allison waited for Jackson to take her place over the man and then slammed a fist into the back of his head before scrambling up to get to Lydia’s side. “Don’t you dare. God fucking dammit Lydia don’t you fucking dare leave me now.”

“Not going anywhere.” Lydia managed to say. “Fucking hell Derek.”

“It’ll be alright.” He told her, quickly and efficiently lighting the blowtorch. “I’m going to have to burn it out though.”

“I fucking know that asshole.” Lydia growled up at him.

Derek smiled a little and then lowered the torch to Lydia’s side. She screamed, loudly, and Allison squeezed her shoulders as tightly as she could, trying to help anchor Lydia down so she didn’t shift and attack Derek. After a few moments Derek stopped blowtorching her side and pulled a bit of her pain, enough for her to sit up.

“You good?” Derek asked.

Lydia nodded. “Kira.”

Derek nodded and spun away, going straight to Kira’s side and repeating the process with the fox's arm. This time though Erica acted as Kira’s anchor, helping the kitsune not electrocute their alpha.

“Anyone else?” Derek demanded when he pulled away from Kira.

“Me.” Aiden said, gesturing to his side.

“Boyd take over.” Derek ordered.

Boyd rolled up from where he’d been knocked down and took over kneeling on the dimpled partner so Aiden could stumble over to where Derek was. Ethan got up off of Red’s body as Cora finished retying him to the poll and helped his brother over to Derek.

“Hold him.” Derek told Ethan.

Ethan nodded and held Aiden tight, keeping his arms back, as Derek put the blowtorch to Aiden’s side. Aiden’s scream made Ethan and Derek wince but it soon stopped when Derek finished burning the wound out.

“You people are fucking insane.” The dimpled partner said. “It’s no wonder you’re monsters.”

“Boyd.” Derek said. “Shut him up.”

Boyd slammed his fist into the guy’s face, knocking him out and efficiently shutting him up.

“Thank you Boyd.” Derek said.

“Well.” Boyd said, getting up from the ground and dusting himself off. “I’m gonna go make dinner. You guys enjoy your Black Swords of Doom and all that shit.”

Derek shook his head, smiling fondly as Boyd left the basement. He looked at Erica. “He could calm his way through a fucking nuclear war.”

Erica laughed, making sure not to jostle the Kira still on her legs. “He’s a one of a kind guy.”

Derek looked over at where Red was tied to the poll and his partners were laying on the floor by him. “Tie them all to different polls.” He told Cora.

She nodded, dragging the mole partner to another poll and setting to work tying him up.

“Ethan. Cora. Erica. Stay down here and watch them.”

“They need names.” Erica commented as Allison helped Kira off her and started towards the basement steps where Isaac was waiting to start helping his packmates upstairs. “I can’t keep calling them Dimples and Mole-man.”

“Well if they wake up you can ask them what to call them.” Aiden told her as Ethan helped him over to Isaac.

“I will.” Erica said defiantly.

“Be careful.” Derek said, looking at her. “Be safe.”

Erica smiled at him. “Look at little alpha having feelings.” She cooed as she walked up and tried to muss up his hair.

Derek rolled her eyes, pushing her hands away, and followed the last of his pack upstairs.

Erica’s laugh followed him up.

Allison was waiting for him at the top of the stairs, Isaac at his side.

“I want to keep them alive.” Isaac told him.

Derek nodded. “Alright. You have my attention.” The three of them moved to the kitchen table and sat down. Boyd eyed them as they walked through the kitchen, making sure they didn’t mess up his kitchen.

“I want to keep the hunters alive.” Isaac repeated after they’d sat down.

“Why?” Derek asked.

“We gave Allison a chance.” Isaac said. “She changed. I think they can too.”

Derek looked at Allison. “I’m assuming you agree?”

Allison nodded. “I know it seems a little stupid now.”

“It seems a lot stupid.” Derek told her.

She nodded in agreement but continued. “But I think it can be done.”

“Why?” Derek asked again.

“Because I changed my entire family's minds.” Allison said. “I fell in love with Lydia and I changed my entire family. I made them stop their killings and follow rules to kill instead. I stopped all the families allied with us and made them follow the rules. If you can make them believe it, that we are a family and not monsters, we can stop another huge chunk of the Wereslayers.”

“How?” Derek asked, looking skeptical.

“The legends say that Red is the son of Melisaa McCall, the leader of the McCall family.” Isaac answered. “If those are true and he’s her son and she loves him like a mother should, she’ll listen to him. But we have to have him alive to do that.”

“And killing him would only piss her off.” Allison added.

“That too.” Isaac agreed.

Derek sat in silence for a long moment, staring at them and thinking, before sighing and nodding. “Alright. They can live.”

Allison and Isaac both grinned wide and started getting excited before Derek put his hand up to regain their attention.

“But you two will be responsible for them.” He told them. “The others can help you watch them and convince them but if they attack someone _you_ are responsible for it. Are we clear?”

They both nodded, grinning.

“Good.” Derek said. “Then let’s get out of here before Boyd throws something at us for disturbing him.

“I’ve never thrown anything at you.” Boyd said, rolling his eyes but smiling fondly.

“You did try to stab me though.” Isaac reminded him.

“You were in the way.” Boyd shrugged.

Derek rolled his eyes. “You two. Go down and make sure your new responsibilities are secure and make sure they don’t have any more weapons. We can all eat down there tonight to talk about what the plan is now.”

The two of them nodded and left the room, heading back towards the basement.

“Think you made the right choice?” Boyd asked, glancing over at Derek.

Derek sighed. “I don’t know Boyd. I sure hope so though. We’ve had more than enough pain lately.”

“We’ll be fine.” Boyd told him, smiling like he was sure. And his heart said he was sure as well. “They won’t get the chance to try something again.”

~

“What are we going to do with them?” Erica asks, looking at the three boys in front of her.

“I want them dead.” Ethan spat.

“You heard Derek.” Cora told him sharply. “We can’t kill them. Not yet at least.”

“I don’t understand why he wants them alive.” Ethan said. “We should kill them while we have the chance.”

“They can give us information.” Erica said. “Stuff that us knowing would help us keep each other and the town safe.”

“There’s nearly seventy werewolves that can do that.” Ethan said. “This town is well protected. We don’t need these assholes to tell us anything to keep the people safe.”

“He knows a lot.” Cora said, staring at Red. “More than any other hunter we’ve seen.”

“And we still don’t need him.” Ethan said.

“You heard Derek.” Erica said. “We can’t.”

“No. Not yet. But when he lets me, I’m going to tear him apart.”

“You won’t.” Cora said firmly. “You know the laws. We can kill hunters that threaten us but we cannot mutilate their bodies for our enjoyment. That gives _them_ the right to kill _you_.

Ethan growled. “Fine. But I still want to be the one to kill him.”

“Then ask him.” Erica told him. “Ask Derek. He’ll probably agree to make sure it’s you if it happens.”

“If?” Ethan asks.

“If he gives us enough, Derek may let him live.” Erica shrugged. “It’s who Derek is.”

“He’s not violent.” Cora said, her voice fond and a smile on her face. “He never has been. He was always kind when we were growing up. He would find animals injured in the woods and take care of them. Heal them. He’d help old ladies at the store carry their bags to his car, just because he could. He’d go down to the nursery home when he was teenager and he’d sit with the ones he knew would die soon, the ones reeking of death, and he’d give them one day of no pain and just a young boy talking to them, making them smile to send them off. He’s a kind person. He wasn’t meant to be an alpha.”

“But he is.” Ethan said. “And he’s good at it. He’s an amazing alpha and I’d do anything for him. But I don’t like this decision to keep them alive. It’s dangerous.”

“And we don’t do dangerous things?” Erica asked sarcastically.

Ethan sighed, glaring at her slightly.

She smiled sassily at him and then became serious again. “Ethan we all know it’s dangerous. We saw what he can do out there in the forest and again in here. We saw Dimples and Mole-Man shoot off four shots each and land every single one in one of us. We saw Red swing that sword of his straight through Isaac’s side. We all know it’s dangerous. But we’re werewolves, kitsune, and hunter. We can’t be afraid of them. Not now. Not anymore.”

Ethan stared at her, mouth slightly dropped in awe. He looked at Cora, who was looking back at him with the same awe and surprise on her face. They both looked back at Erica.

“What?” Erica asked, smiling. “I saw smart things every once in a while.”

Ethan and Cora laughed.

“Sorry it’s just usually your boyfriend says things like that.” Cora said, smiling and blushing a bit.

Erica loudly fake sighed. “Well it was bound to rub off eventually.”

All three of them looked over as they heard feet coming downstairs and they smiled when they saw Isaac and Allison.

“What’s up?” Erica asked.

“Derek’s agreed to leave them alive.” Isaac told them. “But only if Allison and I take responsibility for them.”

“Why?” Ethan demanded.

“We convinced him to give us a chance to make them see things as they truly are.” Allison said. “See you guys as you truly are. Like I did.”

“None of them love us.” Ethan said. “None of them ever will. They hate us.”

“So did I.” Allison reminded him.

“We’re taking this chance.” Isaac told him. “We’d still like your help guarding them though. And if they try to escape you can go ahead and kill them. We just want to give them a chance.”

“I’m down with that.” Cora said. “We may as well. They’re no threat down here.”

“I don’t see why not.” Erica said, shrugging. “As long as they’re guarded it should be fine.”

“Should be.” Ethan repeated.

“Give them a chance.” Allison pleaded, using puppy eyes on him. “For me?”

Ethan glared at her. “I hate those eyes.” He told her.

She grinned, knowing that was his yes.

“Thanks.” Isaac said, smiling.

“Mhmm.” Ethan said.

“Help me check their arms for tattoos.” Allison said.

“Why?” Erica asked, already moving towards Mole-Man to look for tats.

“Most Hunters tattoo their rank and class somewhere on their arms.” Allison explained, moving towards Red. “If these three have them we can figure out how important they are in the McCall hierarchy.”

“I’ve got something.” Cora said from by Dimples.

Allison hurried to her side, leaving Isaac to finish searching Red.

“T-A.” Allison read quietly. “Oh my god.”

“What?” Cora asked.

“Got one!” Isaac called.

“What does it say?” Allison demanded, hurrying back to his side.

“K-A.” Isaac read.

Allison’s eyes got even wider and she looked at Erica. “Erica?”

“I’ve got B-A.” Erica told her.

“Oh my god.” Allison exhaled, eyes wide in shock.

“What?” Isaac asked, looking worried.

“The first letter is their class.” Allison told him. “The second is their rank.”

“What do theirs mean?” Ethan asked, looking almost as scared as the others did worried and concerned.

“That one,” Allison pointed at Dimples. “Is the Tech of this trio. He will know how to hack almost anything with almost nothing.” She pointed at Mole-Man. “He is the Bestiary keeper. He knows how to kill anything. He updates the Bestiary if they come across something new.” She moved her arm to point at Red. “And that one, as you’ve probably guessed, is the Killer. He’s the best fighter among them, trained to kill and nothing else.”

“What’s their rank?” Cora asked.

She looked at them all and for the first time since she’d come to trust them, they saw true terror in her eyes.

“A.” Allison muttered. “A is the highest rank.”

“And I’m guessing not many people hold it.” Erica said.

“Only a few are given the honor of bearing that rank.” Allison said.

“And that means you know who does?” Isaac asked, looking a bit hopefully.

Allison nodded slowly.

“Who are they?” Ethan demanded.

Allison pointed a slightly shaking finger towards Dimples. “That one is Danny Māhealani. His father was Keahu Māhealani, the Tech that stood beside Melissa McCall before he was killed.” She moved her hand towards Mole-Man. “That is Stiles Stilinski. No one knows his real first name but there are rumors of it being long, Polish, and unpronounceable. His father is John Stilinski, a man who fights under Melissa McCall.” She moved her pointing finger towards Red, it was visibly shaking now and Allison’s voice shook just as much as she spoke. “That one, right there, is Scott McCall, first and only son of Melissa McCall.”

Everyone was silent, shocked and scared but mostly shocked.

“That bastard is the leader’s son?” Ethan asked finally, his voice tight.

Allison nodded. “Only those three bear the A rank. Only they are allowed to have it tattooed on their skin.”

“We need to tell Derek.” Erica said. “This may make him want to do something else with them.”

“No.” Isaac said. “This only makes our plan better.”

“What do you mean?” Ethan asked, looking at him.

“I understand.” Cora muttered. “If we can convince them that we are not evil. That we’re not monsters. If we can do that, that can shut down the entire family. It wouldn’t just be a part of the McCall group stopping, it’d be all of them.”

“We have to do it now.” Isaac said. “We’d change the world.”

“And if we kill them all it will do is piss them off.” Erica pointed out. “Melissa McCall would never forgive us for killing her son. She’d hunt us all to the ends of the earth if we did that.”

Ethan sighed loudly. “I’m in.” He said. “I’ll help.”

Allison darted over and hugged him tightly. “Thank you.” She whispered.

Ethan chuckled and hugged her back before she stepped away. “I won’t be talking to them much though.”

Allison stepped away beaming. “That’s fine. I’m just glad you’re going to help.”

“Thanks Ethan.” Isaac said, smiling at the other wolf.

Ethan nodded to him, smiling back.

“Who’s telling Derek?” Cora asked.

“Who’s telling Derek what?” Derek’s voice came from the stairs. The rest of the pack was behind him and each of them had something for dinner.

“We figured out who they are.” Allison told him.

Derek looked at her and then at each of them in turn, taking in the shock still on their faces and the slight scent of fear in the air. “Do I want to know?” He finally asked.

Derek was silent while Allison explained the tattoos and what they mean and what it could mean now if they can change their minds. When everything went silent, they all looked back at him.

“Well.” Derek finally said. “I suppose we’ll stick to our plan then.”

Allison and Isaac grinned wide.

“You two can talk to them and try and convince them that we’re not monsters. But the rest of you will need to help with security.”

“I can see about finding spells and wards that would make it so they can’t leave the house.” Lydia said. “They’ll probably see sense quicker if we don’t keep them tied up like animals.”

“That’s a good idea.” Derek agreed.

“I’ll get all the poisonous stuff we have locked away tight.” Isaac said. “We don’t need them getting in that if we do untie them.”

“Is it safe to untie them?” Kira asked, looking over at them from where they were scattered on the floor eating food.

“As long as someone stays with them it should be.” Jackson said. “And the wards to keep them in will stop them from escaping.”

“It seems dangerous.” Aiden said slowly. He was looking mostly at his brother, seeing how Ethan was taking it. And Ethan seemed to be taking it fine but Aiden was still going to worry.

“We do plenty of dangerous and potentially stupid things.” Lydia said. “This is only one more. If we’re going to have them here we may as well do stuff that will make them trust us more.”

“I think it’s a good plan.” Boyd declared. “If they try to escape or kill us we can kill them. But right now we need to see if we can get their trust.”

“Well then that’s our plan.” Derek declared. “We’ll let them loose once Lydia gets wards up and I think they’re safe enough to release we’ll do that. For now they stay down here and someone guards them at all time. Understood?”

Everyone nodded.

“Good.” Derek said. “Now let’s all enjoy Boyd’s food and hope he feeds us tomorrow night too because otherwise it’s my turn to cook and we all know that would end badly.”

Everyone laughed and nodded in agreement.

“You may be a good alpha and a good wolf,” Cora said, smiling fondly at her brother. “But you are an awful cook.”

~

And so it began. At all times at least two people were in the basement. There was no schedule, just guard duty being handed from one person to the next. Lydia skipped out on guard duty most of the time as she was looking up wards and Allison didn’t get much at all as she was busy with Isaac trying to talk to the trio of hunters and convince them they were okay. So far, it wasn’t working.

The first day was by far the worst so far though.

Allison and Isaac came down the stairs to find all three McCall hunters glaring at their guards, Ethan and Jackson. When they entered the basement Red, now known as Scott, moved his glaring gaze to them.

“Come to flaunt your traitorous ways in our faces?” He sneered at Allison.

“I am not a traitor.” She said calmly as they walked over and sat on the concrete floor in front of Scott. “I merely saw the truth. As you eventually will as well.”

Scott let out a barking laugh that Stiles and Danny both joined in.

“Weres are monsters.” Stiles called over, breaking off his staring contest with Jackson. “Everyone knows it.”

“We live in peace with humans.” Isaac said.

“And still humans go missing.” Stiles said. His voice was empty of the anger Scott’s voice had had in it. “Still people are found torn to pieces and nothing is done about it.”

“There are laws allowing hunters to kill wolves that break our rules.” Isaac said.

“And most of the time the packs kill their own if they aren’t following the rules.”

“Really?” Danny asked. “Because it certainly doesn’t seem that way.”

“Enough.” Scott spat. “There’s no fucking point in arguing with these fucking blind idiots. Nothing we say will change their minds or their desire to kill us.”

All three of them fell silent, still glaring at Allison and Isaac.

“We don’t want to hurt you.” Allison said gently.

Scott looked pointedly at Ethan.

Allison sighed. “Ethan has encountered your family before. He has some lasting hatred because of that.”

“Well sorry for your wolf being too fucking weak to handle of bunch of namby-pamby weakling humans.” Stiles muttered.

Ethan growled and Jackson immediately stepped forward to put a calming hand on his packmate.

“Obviously doesn’t have enough control to be trusted.” Danny spat. “Probably did something to deserve it then.”

Ethan lunged forward and Jackson tightened his grip to hold him back.

“Enough Ethan.” Allison said calmly. “They can’t do anything. Not now.”

“And yet you’re still scared.” Scott commented, smirking. “Sacred of the hunters you tied up like animals waiting for the fucking slaughter to try and convince them that you’re innocent of all wrong-doing. If you were fucking innocent we wouldn’t have been ordered to end you.”

Allison shot to her feet and lunged forward to slam a fist in Scott’s face. “You should never kill on orders alone.” She hissed before Isaac pulled her back.

Scott spat out blood, his lip split but his eyes bright with fire as he looked up at Allison, who was fighting against Isaac’s hold still. “That’s the hunter you were born to be. Not the fucking weakling these wolves have made you.”

Allison growled and Isaac carried her away. That was the end of day one of their attempt to change the McCall mind.

~

A month later and they were no farther than they were at the beginning. Scott seemed just as determined to make Allison see sense and destroy the pack as they were to make him see that they did not need destroying.

“I don’t know what to do.” Allison lamented to Lydia after yet another failed attempt.

“You’ll figure it out.” Lydia told her, holding Allison tight and petting her fingers through her hair. “You’re smart. You’ll get it.”

“They see you guys as monsters.” Allison said. “And I don’t know how to show them you’re not.”

“Well. You could always do what I did to help you see us differently.” Lydia suggested.

Allison shook her head. “I don’t trust them enough for that yet.”

“You don’t have to trust them.” Lydia said. “Give them to people who don’t trust them and make them see that maybe we’re worth trusting. At least a little.”

Allison sighed. “I suppose that could work. I just don’t want to deal with them anymore. I didn’t think it would be this hard. They just don’t listen to us. I try telling them about all the times you guys have saved me and my family and all they do is sneer about how for every one person a wolf saves two more die at the hands of another. And I can’t argue with that!”

“So don’t.” Lydia told her. “Let them see for themselves that while there are wolves out there who enjoy killing and enjoy taking human lives, we prefer to save them. They won’t trust us because we haven’t proven to them that we trust them. We keep them tied up down there with guards all the time because we don’t trust them not to strangle us in our sleep. We need to put that aside and show them that we are to be trusted. Not feared.”

Allison nodded and then pulled away enough to twist and look at Lydia, smiling. “You’re amazing.” She declared.

Lydia grinned. “I know.”

Allison laughed and leaned in to kiss Lydia. “I love you.” She whispered against Lydia’s lips.

“Love you too.” Lydia said back.

~

A week later and it was all set up. Lydia had wards up in the forest around the Hale house to prevent them from escaping and Derek had made the necessary calls to get what they needed.

Allison led the group involved downstairs. Ethan, Derek, Isaac, and Lydia. Lydia had what looked like three handcuff pairs without the chain between the restraints.

“Wake up!” Allison snapped at the three hunters. Erica and Jackson, the night’s guards, kicked them awake and then flashed smiles at their packmates before heading upstairs to get some food and some sleep.

“Come to try again?” Scott asked. “We’ve missed you the past few days. Curly isn’t all that entertaining when you aren’t around to growl for him.”

Allison ignored him. “You guys said you didn’t trust us because we obviously don’t trust you. Well today we’re trusting you.” She went to Stiles, who just glared defiantly at her as she efficiently untied him and yanked him to his feet.

“Watch the goods bitch.” Stiles spat as she yanked on his arm.

Allison ignored him just as she had done Scott as she pushed him towards Derek. The wolf caught him and easily immobilized him with his arms behind his back as Lydia stepped up to them. She clicked one of the handcuff pieces around Stiles’s right wrist before snapping another around Derek’s right wrist. She whispered a few words in another language, causing the handcuff pieces to glow for a moment. Once they were back to normal, Derek let Stiles go.

“Asshole.” Stiles said, pushing at Derek.

Derek didn’t respond, just stared blankly at the hunter as he inspected the piece on his wrist. “What the hell is this?” He demanded.

“Something to keep you from misbehaving.” Lydia told him. “We trust you. But not that much. That trust you’ll have to earn.”

“You’re next.” Allison said, walking over to Danny. Danny didn’t fight as she untied him but he did once he was free and on his feet. Allison blocked his swings with ease. She dislocated his shoulder and sent him stumbling towards Ethan, who stepped up to grab him. Lydia repeated her actions with Stiles and Derek on Ethan and Danny and then stepped back again.

“Help him with his shoulder.” Allison told Ethan.

Ethan nodded and grabbed Danny’s shoulder, wrenching it back into place before the boy could even flinch.

Danny let out a scream and swung at Ethan, who just caught his arm and started draining pain.

“Oh.” Danny gasped slightly as he felt his pain vanish.

“Don’t fight Ally.” Ethan suggested. “She likes dislocating things.”

Allison smiled at Danny as he looked over at her before she turned and went over to Scott. Scott started fighting her immediately but she handled his attacks easily as she untied him and yanked him to his feet. He swung hard and she dodged easily. They fought for a few moments before Isaac stepped up behind Scott and grabbed his arms, wrenching them back behind his back. Scott let out a choked off scream and fought hard as Lydia stepped up and repeated her actions for a third time before Isaac let Scott go, pushing him back towards the pole he’d recently been tied to.

Scott growled slightly and swung back towards them. Stiles was still busy inspecting his bracelet and Danny looked too blissed out from the absence of pain to do anything. Scott lunged forward at Isaac, who just turned to the side and let the hunter fly past.

“I advise not doing that.” Allison drawled.

Scott just growled and dove again. Once again Isaac just moved out of the way.

Allison sighed. “Isaac if he does it again just let it happen. He needs to learn.”

Isaac nodded right as Scott dove at him again. This time Isaac didn’t move and Scott was blasted back into the pole he’d been tied to for three weeks.

Stiles and Danny both shouted in surprise and rushed to Scott’s side.

“What the fuck was that?!” Scott demanded.

“I told you.” Lydia said. “Well I told Stiles and expected the other two of you were listening. Those bracelets are to keep you from misbehaving. We trust you. But not so much that we wouldn’t have a back-up plan. Just in case.”

“It’s your choice whether you behave or not.” Derek said. “But we are giving you the chance to see a wolf pack from the inside. Don’t waste it. You won’t get second chances from us.”

With that declaration the whole group turned and went upstairs.

“They’re trying to trick us.” Scott hissed.

“I don’t think so.” Danny said.

Scott glared at him. “Oh so a werewolf drains your pain and all of a sudden they’re your friends?”

“No.” Danny snapped back. “But they didn’t have to heal me and they did. And what that girl’s been saying makes a little more sense each and every day. We’re just pawns. We may be A class but we are still just pawns in this game. We’re disposable. We vanish for three weeks and no one comes after us. No one comes looking. Speaks a lot about how valuable we are, doesn’t it?”

“Danny’s right.” Stiles said. “Maybe we should give them a chance. We can still kill them later. But right now they’re giving us a chance to see stuff no one else has ever seen before.” Stiles’s eyes were glistening with curiosity. He’d been named the Bestiary keeper for a good reason. He has an abundance of curiosity and a thousand questions about every species they encounter that he wants answers to but in all likelihood will never get. He wasn’t about to waste this chance to observe werewolves. Seeing them in their natural state and their home may allow him to get a better idea of how their minds work, allowing future hunters to predict them better and eliminate them more effectively.

“No.” Scott growled, pushing them away. “You two are as bad as the bitch. Go play with the mutts if you want. I’m staying right here and trying to figure out how to get this thing off so I can go up there and kill them all.”

Stiles and Danny didn’t say anything, just got to their feet and left the basement.

Scott glared after them, using his anger to mask the hurt he was feeling at having the only two people that were constants in his life walk away from him.

Stiles and Danny walked up the stairs to find themselves in a hallway and facing Isaac.

“Glad you decided to make the climb.” Isaac said. “Come on. The packs are all outside.”

“Packs?” Danny asked as Isaac led them down the hall and to a back door.

Isaac pushed the door open with a grin to reveal a huge backyard filled with people. “Packs.” Isaac repeated. “It’s the full moon tonight. We’re having a party.”

Stiles and Danny stepped outside, Isaac coming out after them and shutting the door behind him.

“And don’t worry about people trying to kill you.” Isaac said, slipping past them with a sly smile. “Those bracelets mark you as under protection. You’ll be fine.” He flashed a grin. “Hopefully.”

Stiles and Danny stood on the porch, looking out across the crowd of people in complete and utter shock.

“There’s so many.” Danny said finally.

Stiles nodded. “What are we supposed to do?”

Danny shrugged, looking completely lost.

As if on cue Ethan stepped from the crowd in front of them. “What are you two doing?” He asked. He wasn’t exactly gentle and he wasn’t exactly smiling but his tone and his face were friendlier than they’d ever seen from him before.

“Being in shock.” Stiles told him.

“Well come on.” Ethan said. “You want the werewolf experience you gotta hang out with the monsters.”

Danny and Stiles followed Ethan through the crowd, trying their hardest not to touch anyone on the way. They were led to a table where others of the pack were sitting, laughing at something someone had said.

“Found them then.” Isaac commented as Ethan sat back down.

“Right where you left them.” Ethan told him.

“Pull up a bench you two.” Derek told them, gesturing to two open spots on a bench next to Ethan.

They sat down nervously.

“Relax.” Lydia told them. “We were serious about not hurting you. And none of these guys would even dare.”

Neither one of them relaxed a bit.

“UNCA DEREK!” They heard a shrill voice shriek.

Derek swung away from the table, grinning wide, to catch a little girl in a pink sundress and with glowing gold eyes.

“Hey there Amy!” Derek exclaimed, happily hugging her gently as she hugged his neck tightly.

“Who they?” Amy asked, looking over Derek’s shoulder at Danny and Stiles.

Derek chuckled and turned in his seat again, allowing her to stand on his thigh so she stayed tall. “They’re guests.” He told her. “But they’re human so you have to be careful with them, okay? No biting.”

Amy nodded enthusiastically. “Okay!”

Derek grinned. “Where’s your momma?”

“Talking to Unca Tim.” Amy told him.

Derek smiled. “Well then I suppose we’ll just have to get food for you ourselves.”

Amy squealed happily again, clapping her hands together. “Ork!” She said happily.

Derek and everyone else chuckled at that. Danny and Stiles looked slightly terrified.

“We’ll get you ork.” Derek told her, standing up with her in his arms. He looked at them, completely ignoring Amy as she reached up and started playing with his hair. “Anyone else need anything?”

“I’d like more of those bacon wrapped sausage things.” Ethan said. “Those things are good.”

Derek laughed but nodded before carrying Amy away.

“What the fuck is ork?” Stiles asked when they were gone.

“Pork.” Cora told him. “Amy still has trouble with the ‘p’ sound for some reason.”

“Why’d she call him uncle?” Danny asked.

“There’s five packs in this town. Amy and her mom belong to one of them. Their alpha is Tim. She calls him uncle because of that.” Lydia explained. “But Derek is the overall alpha of all the packs so he’s also uncle.”

Neither of the hunters said anything as they were watching Derek as he walked towards the tables that were piled high with food. Every few feet he’d get accosted by a kid, grinning and excited. And Derek didn’t brush any of them off. He smiled and crouched down to talk to every single one of them. He was smiling and ruffling their hair and tickling their sides and he looked nothing like the monster Stiles and Danny had been told about.

“Speaking of uncles.” Ethan said, breaking the silence around the table as the others watched the hunters watching Derek. “I have to go see the nieces or they’ll tear me a new one.”

“Already gonna.” Isaac said, nodding over Ethan’s shoulder towards where Aiden was standing with a woman, both of them holding a kid. Both kids held striking resemblances with both of the adults holding them.

“Aiden has kids?” Danny said in surprise.

“Yup.” Isaac said, popping the p sound. “That’s Relia. They’ve been together for nearly three years now. The kids are their two year old twins.”

“We haven’t seen her before.” Stiles commented.

“She’s been visiting her parents with the kids.” Cora told them. “But she’s back now and Ethan has to be a good uncle and go see them.”

Danny was still staring over at the little family as Aiden and Relia both handed the kid they were holding to Ethan as the kids laughed and grinned as they rubbed their noses against him in greeting.

“He looks good with them.” Danny observed.

Cora, Isaac, and Lydia all grinned.

“Those kids adore him.” Lydia said. “And he loves them just as much.”

Derek reappeared, this time without Amy but with two boys hanging off of him instead. He handed Cora the plate he was holding. “Found those.” He said, sitting down.

Cora’s eyes lit up at the sight of the little pastries on the plate as she picked one up delicately and started nibbling on it.

The kids hanging on his shoulders were sticking their tongues out at each other and blowing raspberries until Derek put a hand on both their heads. “Stop fighting you two.” He said. They both seemed to decide not to stop so instead they slid off of Derek and ran off, still growling and blowing raspberries.

“Don’t even listen to alpha alpha.” Cora said smirking as she nibbled.

Derek rolled his eyes, reaching across the table to flick her nose. “Why didn’t Scott join us?” He asked, looking at the two hunters that did join them.

“He doesn’t trust you enough.” Stiles answered, biting his lip sliently.

“He’s trying to figure out how to get it off so he can kill you all.” Danny said blandly.

“And you guys don’t want to do that?” Derek asked.

“I do.” Stiles said. “But I’ve seen people who look innocent turn out to be the worst people in the world. I guess I’m willing to see if it goes the other way as well.”

“And I’ve never been someone to kill mindlessly.” Danny said. “Everyone we’ve been ordered to kill before I’ve looked up. I’ve seen the killings in their area and how they can only tie back to our target and how it’s impossible for it to be someone else. This time I didn’t do it. And I suppose that we’re still humans even if we fight people who aren’t. Maybe someone above us made a mistake.”

Derek smiled at them. “Just wait till you see the kids when thy shift tonight. They’re adorable.”

Danny and Stiles both smiled. It wasn’t a big smile. It was tiny and barely a twitch in their mouths. But it was a smile. It was progress.

~

“Why do you hate us so much?” Danny asked, looking at Ethan. The two of them were out in the forest, alone. In the two months since the full moon the pack first allowed Danny and Stiles to experience with them the captives were given much more freedom than they had before. They still wore the bracelets at all times but now they weren’t tied to the poles. They were still locked in the basement at night but no guards were down there with them and they had mattresses and blankets in order to be more comfortable down there. Stiles and Danny were allowed where ever they wanted to go as long as someone knew where they were. Scott was still not allowed out of the basement without an escort being with him at all times. He hadn’t done anything to earn that trust yet. But Stiles and Danny were really beginning to see things as Allison had spent nearly a month trying to get them to see it. The wolves weren’t monsters. They were actually quite nice when you gave them a chance. They still didn’t trust them enough to all sleep at once at night so they still rotated guarding between the three of them but they were beginning to see things differently.

“What?” Ethan asked. He’d agreed to go with Danny when the boy had asked him. Said he wanted to find some plants to help the nasty cut Stiles had gotten on his hand from tripping in the basement and gouging his hand on an old pipe.

“Why do you hate us so much?” Danny repeated.

“Who?”

“Hunters. Specifically McCall hunters.”

“Why do you care?”

Danny shrugged, crouching down to choose a few leaves from a plant and pluck them off, adding them to the bag he was carrying. “Because if I’m going to trust you guys I’d like to know why you don’t trust me.”

“None of us trust you completely.”

“Yet you distrust us the most. Why?”

Ethan bit his lip, not speaking.

“If you don’t want to tell me that’s fine.” Danny added, almost as an afterthought. “I was just curious.”

“It’s fine.” Ethan said. “My brother and I grew up in a pack a long way from here.” He started. “When we were ten, hunters came. They killed everyone.”

“That’s horrible.”

“No it was right.” Ethan corrected. “They were monsters. They liked killing and did it for fun. The hunters were right to kill them.”

“And you two?”

“They left us alive.” Ethan said. “Obviously. They said something about not killing kids. And then they were gone. We didn’t know what happened at first. We tried finding someone, anyone, who was still alive. But they were all dead. Most of them were cut in half or beheaded. So we started running. Over time we learned why they were killed and we accepted it. It had been all we had ever known, the killing, but even we thought something wasn’t right. We grew up on the road, travelling from one pack to another, trying to find somewhere we fit in. We never could stay in one place long. It didn’t feel right. When were around thirteen we decided to part ways. We promised to meet up in exactly a year at that spot and we’d tell the other if we found someplace to belong. And we went separate ways. It wasn’t long before I was found by hunters.”

Danny had stopped moving, choosing instead to stay crouched down in front of the plant he’d just plucked flowers from, knowing he wouldn’t like what he was about to hear.

“I knew they were hunters. I could smell the wolfsbane on them. That was one thing we’d learned on your travels at that point. How to know when hunters are nearby. So I started running. I ran for weeks and every time I stopped for more than maybe six hours they were there, shouting and shooting and driving me off again.”

Danny wanted to speak. Wanted to say something, _anything_ to help him. But he knew he couldn’t. Any word from him and Ethan might just close off again.

“And then one day, I found a kid. He looked terrified, smelled terrified, smelled _hurt_. He said he was attacked by men in the forest with big guns and swords and loud voices and I believed him. His heartbeat was so erratic no one would’ve been able to tell he was lying. Because he was lying. That night I fell asleep because I thought the hunters were far back enough for me to get some shut eye before we needed to move again. I woke up to the smell of wolfsbane and gunpowder. And that kid, that little, terrified-looking kid, was standing over me holding a gun as steady as a professional marksman pointed straight between my eyes and a smirk on his face.”

Here Ethan stopped for a moment, biting his lip and controlling his erratic heartbeat before continuing.

“They took me captive. Tied me to a metal bed in a metal room with wolfsbane laced ties and tortured me. They cut me, beat me, poisoned me. They did everything they could, trying to learn more about werewolves. How to hurt them. How to kill them. How to make their deaths as painful as possible. And then they let me go.”

“They let you go?” Danny asked, sounding surprised as he looked over his shoulder at Ethan.

Ethan nodded. “I never figured out why they did that. I just ran. I could barely think beyond the instinct to just _run_.” Ethan said the word with desperation and the memory of pain in his voice. “I met up with Aiden not long after that and he told about this pack that he’d found. They were small and broken and dying but willing to take us in and we came here together to find a new start. I never told him about what happened, not till we found you guys. We were happy here. And then you guys brought all those memories back. All the _pain_.” Ethan smiled sadly. “Guess I took it out on you guys.”

“It’s alright.” Danny said. “I understand. Really. And so would Stiles. And Scott would as well but it wouldn’t change anything about him. We’ve all lost people to wolves. That’s why we hunt them down and kill them. To stop other people from experiencing what we did.”

“What happened?” Ethan asked. “If you don’t mind me asking.”

“Nah.” Danny said, smiling a little. “You told me. It’s only fair if I tell you.”

“You don’t have to.” Ethan insisted.

“I want to.” Danny said. “When I was little my mom’s friend was a werewolf. His name was Kyle. And he loved my mom. Too much. One night he snapped. He killed my dad and my little sister and then he tried to rape my mom but she killed him. She died of the wounds he caused. Scott’s mom took me in. I learned later that my dad had been her tech for years before they all pulled out to raise families and then we were all dragged back in. I was at a Scott’s house the night they died. I was introduced to their family business and took it on my shoulders eagerly. I wanted to kill every werewolf in the world for what Kyle did to my mom. My family. I became Scott’s partner. Second only to him and Stiles, Scott’s best friend and partner since ever. I learned how to fight. How to kill. How to hack into anything and everything. And the anger was just nurtured for years until they set the three of us on the world and we became known as the Black Swords.”

“And now?” Ethan asked hesitantly.

Danny smiled at him. “I’m not so angry anymore.”

Ethan smiled back.

“You know, if you want, I can find out who hurt you.” Danny said. “If they’re under the McCall umbrella they’ll be in the system. Everything is. Every kill, every capture, every threat. It’s all in there. As well as the names of the people who did it. I can try and find their names for you. If you want revenge.”

Ethan shook his head. “I stopped seeking revenge. Like you said. I’m not angry anymore.”

~

A few days later, Stiles was in the living room, laying on the couch with his hand resting on the back of the couch. Danny had ordered him to keep it elevated until he returned to take the poultice he’d smeared on off. His eyes were closed and he was listening to Scott scream from the basement. They’d gotten in another argument over whether or not to trust the wolves and Stiles and Danny had stormed out. Danny was outside, blowing off his anger with Ethan. Stiles didn’t know what happened between the two of them but Danny told him he trusted Ethan and that was enough for Stiles. He trusted his friend’s opinion. Unlike Scott apparently.

“He ever going to stop screaming?” Derek’s voice asked.

Stiles jumped and swore. “Fucking hell. You’re going to kill me one of these times.”

Derek smiled. “That’s not an answer.”

Stiles sighed. “Don’t know. Maybe when he loses his voice.”

“I think he’s gotten worse the past few days.”

“He has.” Stiles confirmed. “He’s come to a realization that pisses him off and he’s expressing that anger by distrusting everyone, including Danny and me now.”

“What realization?”

“He’s in love with one of you wolves and he’s angry about it.” Stiles told him.

Derek’s eyebrows raised. “In love?”

Stiles nodded. “Scott has a gentle heart, although he hides it well. He guards himself well. But every once in a very long while someone gets inside that. And he hates himself for it for a while before he just accepts it and shuts up.”

“Speaking from experience?”

“He didn’t trust Danny when he first joined training with us. These days he trusts Danny with everything. Well he did. Now he doesn’t again because Danny and I both told him that him liking who he likes isn’t a bad thing and he took it to be a very bad thing.”

“He’s always trusted you then?”

Stiles smiled. “My mom was best friends with his.”

“Was?”

“She uh, she died. Well she was killed.”

“By wolves.” Derek said. It wasn’t a question.

Stiles nodded. “Melissa hadn’t been planning on raising her son to be a warrior and my parents weren’t planning on raising me to kill. They all left the business to raise families. Danny's dad too. But when my mom died, and Scott’s dad in the same attack, they both sort of lost it. Melissa took over the family business and my dad joined her. Both of them were completely dedicated to avenging their lost loved ones. And they were going to use any means necessary to get that done.”

“Even raising their kids to kill.”

“Even raising their kids to kill.” Stiles repeated in agreement.

“That sucks.” Derek said.

“It gets worse when you realize Melissa was planning on marrying Scott of to some girl to bring her family into the weave as well and get a kid to do the same thing to in order to continue the legacy.”

“Your dad wasn’t going to do that to you?”

“He tried. I killed her on her way down the aisle.”

Derek’s eyes widened in shock. “Why?”

“Because I don’t want to be married. I don’t want a wife or a husband or anyone. I don’t want kids. I have my best friends and that’s always been enough.”

Derek smiled. “It’s called aromantic.” He said.

“What?” Stiles asked.

“The lack of romantic feelings towards anyone.” Derek explained. “It’s called aromantic.”

Stiles smiled a little, almost timid looking. “I like that. Having a name for it.”

Derek smiled. “I’m asexual. I know how it feels to want a label of some kind just so it doesn’t feel like you’re wrong or broken.”

“Asexual?” Stiles asked, looking a little confused.

“No sexual desire.” Derek explained. “I don’t even masturbate.”

Stiles laughed. “Yea I can see how that could feel a little weird in this day and age.”

Derek shrugged. “I could still fall for someone but I don’t really want to. I like just having the pack. They’re enough for me.”

“Who’ll be alpha after you?”

Derek shrugged. “Whoever I name I suppose. Probably one of Cora’s kids if she ever as any. Right now the heir to it is Cora herself if I die in an attack or something.”

“You’ve got everything figured out then.” Stiles said, grinning.

Derek smiled back. “We’re not unorganized animals.”

Stiles held up his non-injured hand in surrender. “I know dude.”

“Don’t call me dude.” Derek said, rolling his eyes.

Stiles just grinned.

“So who’s the target of Scott’s love?” Derek asked after a moment.

“I know everyone else is listening so I’m not telling.” Stiles said smirking.

Derek laughed. “You’ve got me there.” He grabbed a pen and paper and brought them over to Stiles. “They don’t have x-ray vision.”

Stiles smiled but took the pen and wrote the name down.

Derek’s eyes widened when he saw it. “Really?”

Stiles nodded. “Yup.”

“I didn’t expect that.” Derek said.

Stiles shrugged. “Scott’s always been a bit unpredictable in this kind of shit.”

“Well I wish you and Danny good luck in dealing with him then.”

Stiles grinned. “We’ll get him to come around eventually. Right now he’s blaming you guys for everything from his dad to my hand. He’s fighting as much as he can because he’s in love. Once he gives up he’ll get better.”

~

Two weeks later Scott walked out of the basement between Stiles and Danny. They led him outside to where the pack was gathered in the backyard. Scott watched them all warily while still avoiding looking at one of them.

“We’re gonna sit up here.” Stiles called down as they took seats on the steps.

“What are we doing?” Scott demanded.

“You wanted a reason to trust them.” Danny said. “A way to know that they aren’t animals. That they have control of the wolf inside them. This is it. It’s the full moon tonight. They’re at their wildest. And they’re going to show you that they have their power in check.”

Scott scowled but he watched in silence as the pack circled up on the lawn. All the guys were shirtless and the girls were in sports bras and yoga pants and Scott was concentrating hard on one side of the circle, avoiding a wolf on the other side.

All of them dropped into their shifts, eyes glowing and fangs out. There were snarls around the circle before Aiden and Lydia both stepped forward, snarling. They lunged at each other, going for throats and wrists and legs, acting like they were trying to tear each other to pieces before Lydia clamped down on Aiden’s neck and he went limp in her hold. She released him almost instantly and they returned to their spots in the circle. Lydia got high-fives from Erica, Boyd, and Kira and Aiden got pats on the back from Isaac and Jackson.

“She’s tough.” Jackson said, smiling at his ex-girlfriend with something akin to pride.

“Next pair.” Derek ordered.

This time it was Jackson and Cora that stepped into the middle of the circle. Cora beat Jackson easily and she was grinning as she returned to her spot. And so the fights continued. Boyd beat Isaac. Erica beat Kira. Cora beat Lydia. Derek beat Jackson. Ethan beat Aiden. Kira beat Boyd. Isaac beat Ethan.

“What is this?” Scott asked Stiles and Danny.

“They’re training.” Stiles explained. “It’s how they keep their wolves in check. When the sun goes down and the moon rises they’ll go for a run but for now this is just enough energy release to stay in complete control of their wolves.”

“None of them have ever lost control.” Danny said. “Watch the two on either side of Allison.”

Scott looked over but looked away quickly. The wolf he was avoiding was right next to Allison. But he could see what Danny meant. While the others were fully shifted and snarling and cheering on the people in the ring, the two next to Allison were a bit calmer. Their bodies were shifted in front a minute amount, as if they were preparing to protect her just in case someone attacked. But it didn’t look like they were protecting her in the rest of their body language. Their muscles were relaxed and calm and they were laughing and cheering just like the rest of them. And Allison wasn’t tensed or worried. She was grinning and laughing and cheering on the people in the ring, completely at ease being the only human in a ring of weres. She wasn’t worried about them losing control. She was safe. And she knew it.

“Are you starting to see it?” Stiles asked, seeing tears in Scott’s eyes. “Are you starting to see what we see?”

Scott got up and ran back inside. Stiles and Danny hurried after him, following back down to the basement where he was knelt down in front of the pole they’d tied him to at the beginning of their captivity.

“They can’t be good.” Scott said through grit teeth, tears in his eyes. “They _can’t_.”

“Why not?” Danny asked.

“They fucking killed my dad!” Scott roared, shooting to his feet and spinning to face them. “They killed your mom Stiles! They killed your entire fucking family Danny! They can’t be good!”

“They didn’t do that.” Stiles said gently. “Yes, werewolves do all of that. But not these ones. These ones are nice and kind and not evil. They don’t deserve to die Scott.”

“All of them deserve to die!” Scott roared. His voice wasn’t so much anger now. It was mostly desperation.

“No they don’t.” Danny said. “They’ve gone through hell because of hunters like us. Hunters like us killed the entire Hale family minus Derek and Cora. Hunters like us killed Jackson’s real parents and left him as a helpless infant because while we don’t kill kids we don’t have to help them either so they left him there with the hopes he’d die on his own. Hunters like us killed Boyd and Erica’s alpha and left them as newly-bitten omegas with no one to protect them. Hunters like us killed Aiden and Ethan’s pack and left them to fend for themselves as two ten year-old boys. Hunters like us captured and tortured Ethan until he was begging them to just kill him and be done. Hunters like us are the reason Kira’s one of the last thunder kitsune in the world. And yet they let us live. Because we don’t deserve to get attacked for the things hunters like us have done just as they don’t deserve to get blamed for things werewolves like them did to us.”

Scott was silent, all his anger gone. All the fight drained out of him at Danny’s words. Scott fell to his knees. “I don’t know what to do.” He whispered. “You two have accepted them. You keep telling me to do it but I can’t. I can’t just let go of my past.”

“So don’t.” Stiles said. “Do what me and Danny have decided to do.”

“And what’s that?”

“We’re going to keep being hunters, but only hunting the targets _we_ find and _we_ confirm deserve death.” Danny said.

“I talked to Derek about it and he said it’d be fine if we wanted to live and work out of here.” Stiles added.

“They’ve accepted us Scott.” Danny said. “We’ve accepted them. It’s your turn now and your decision to make.”

Scott was silent and frozen for a long moment before sighing and nodding slowly. “Okay. I’ll give them a chance.”

Stiles and Danny both grinned. “Well come on then.”

Scott was confused but he allowed them to pull him to his feet and lead him back upstairs and outside again. The pack was all still in a circle and as the current fight ended they all turned and looked at them.

“We’re going to trust you.” Stiles announced, grinning.

The pack cheered and Allison and Lydia came over to them.

“Are you sure?” Allison asked.

“Yes.” Stiles said immediately, glancing at Derek behind him. He’d become friends with the alpha wolf over time. Derek had always been willing to take away the pain from his hand and had willingly sat down and explained to Stiles all about being aromantic and asexuality.

“Yes.” Danny said right after him, glancing at Ethan, who was grinning up at him. Since the day they’d talked in the forest both of them were a lot more comfortable around the other. Danny had still found the other wolves unsettling for a while after that, but he’d been completely comfortable with Ethan.

Scott hesitated, biting his lip. Both of his best friends smiled encouragingly at him. Scott took a deep breath and let it out slowly, refusing to glance over Lydia’s shoulder at the wolf he knew was staring at him along with everyone else, before nodding. “Yes.”

Lydia looked back at Isaac. “Got anything super-ears?”

Isaac shook his head, smiling at the nickname. Having the best hearing in the pack was fun sometimes and even useful other times but he was also very used to the teasing about it. “They’re good or they ain’t lying.” He told Lydia.

“My thoughts exactly.” She said, grinning as she turned back to them. “Now I’m going to take those bracelets off.” She told them. “If you attempt to attack any of us you’ll find yourself being ripped to shreds. Got it?”

They all nodded, Stiles and Danny as if it was completely normal and Scott looking a little nervous still.

“Good.” Lydia said. “You still won’t be able to go far from the house but now you will not be connected to one of us. We’re trusting you not to betray us or try to kill us. Are you ready?”

They all nodded again, Scott still nervous-looking.

“Stick out your arms.” Lydia ordered.

They all stuck out their right arms, the bracelets shining brightly in the setting sun.

Lydia took a deep breath and said a few words in the language she’d spoken when she put them on, a language she’d informed Stiles was called Yanjino, and the cuffs clicked and fell off. There were three accompaniment clicks from behind Lydia and then Isaac walked up with the three cuffs they’d been wearing.

Danny didn’t waste a single second. He dove off the porch and made a beeline straight for Ethan. He launched himself at the wolf and knocked him over. Everyone jumped, tense and about ready to take Danny down before they realized what was happening. Danny and Ethan were kissing. Quite passionately.

“Well I expected that to happen a long time ago.” Derek said, looking at them.

The two on the ground pulled apart, both of them blushing bright red but both of them had huge grins on their faces. Stiles, Lydia, Allison, and all the others went over by them to pull them to their feet and congratulate them and interrogate them.

“That’s quite sweet.” Isaac said.

Scott tensed up. He’d forgotten Isaac was there. “I suppose so.” He forced out.

“Hm.” Isaac hummed. “All that self-imposed waiting for one moment of pure bliss when the links came off. Think it’s worth the wait?”

“Maybe.” Scott said shortly. He was concentrating on keeping his heart in check at Isaac’s closeness on the steps of the porch.

Isaac smiled. “I hope to find out one day.” He said softly. “But don’t make me wait forever Scott. I want to have forever of the bliss. Not the waiting.”

Scott’s eyes widened and he was frozen in surprise as Isaac smirked and walked away to join the congratulation.

Stiles skipped over and clapped a hand on Scott’s shoulder. “Well I’m not one to say I told you so…But dude I totally told you so.”

Scott looked at Stiles. “He?”

“Yup.”

“And I?”

“Yup.”

“Oh my god.”

“Yup.” Stiles said a third time. “Take a minute buddy. I know it’s hard.”

“Oh my god.” Scott repeated. “Oh my motherfucking god.”

Stiles laughed. “You gonna do something about it?”

Scott nodded slowly. “Gotta do something.”

Stiles sighed as Scott still didn’t move. He stepped behind his best friend and pushed him forward, making him stumble down the steps. Scott stumbled forward and Stiles followed behind him, making sure he didn’t do anything too stupid.

Scott walked up to Isaac and tapped him on the shoulder. As Isaac turned around Scott slammed his fist into Isaac’s face and knocked him to the ground. Once again everyone jumped forward but were stopped in their tracks as Scott bent over, grabbed the front of Isaac’s shirt, and heaved the man halfway up to slam their lips together.

After a second Isaac reached up and pulled Scott down to the ground with him, threading one hand through the hunters hair and wrapping the other around his waist as Scott kept Isaac’s shirt in one iron fist and reached up with the other to wrap around his shoulders and grab the hair on the back of his head. When they finally pulled apart they were both panting and everyone was silent.

“Well.” Stiles said. “That was not what I meant by do something but I guess it works.”

Everyone laughed then, the shock fading away into laughter as Aiden and Jackson helped the two back to their feet although they didn’t let go of each other at any point.

“I think that’s more kissing than I’ve had to deal with in a long time.” Derek mused out loud.

“You’re in for a hell of a lot more if I know them.” Stiles told him.

“Time to get payback for all the sounds I’ve had to put up with through the years.” Isaac said, looking pointedly at Erica, who just grinned back at him.

“I’m visiting the other packs for the next week.” Derek declared.

“I’m joining you.” Cora added.

“Can I come?” Kira asked.

“How about you just put the happy couples in motels somewhere for a week?” Stiles suggested. “That seems a bit easier. And that way the house doesn’t end up reeking of sex and we don’t have to listen to them fuck.”

“It’d just be us hearing them.” Jackson said. “Not you.”

“Trust me.” Stiles said. “I know them. I’ll hear it too if they’re here.”

Everyone laughed at that and Scott and Danny both blushed a little brighter at Stiles’s declaration.

“I think we’ve got a plan then.” Derek said. “But first we’ve got a run to take.” He looked at the new couples. “Isaac. Ethan. They’ll still be here when you get back so let go of them and start running before I make you.”

Isaac and Ethan both grinned, kissed their new boyfriends once more, and then took off for the woods, the rest of the pack right behind them.

“I’m glad you guys saw it.” Allison said, turning to them. “The way you fought me in the beginning I didn’t know if you’d ever see it.”

“It was hard at first.” Stiles told her. “An entire lifetime of people telling you werewolves are monsters is hard to set aside.”

“And having a gay crisis over one doesn’t particularly help.” Danny added, looking very pointedly at Scott, who just smiled and blushed.

“You two didn’t help.” Scott said. “Telling me how great and awesome they were when I was still tied to a pole.”

Stiles and Danny shrugged.

“You had to prove it to earn it.” Danny said. “Just like at home.”

Scott sighed. “Mom’s gonna kill me.” He said. “Or rather she’s going to have someone kill me as she doesn’t do the dirty work anymore.”

“About that…” Allison said.

“What?” Scott asked.

“Your mom already put a kill order out.” She said. “On all three of you. The word got out after the full moon party you two came to.” She nodded at Stiles and Danny. “She named you traitors and it was a kill on sight order.”

Scott’s shoulders sagged and Stiles and Danny both looked sad.

“It doesn’t matter.” Stiles said after a moment. “We don’t need that family. We have a new one. This one.”

Allison smiled. “You’ll like it here. All of you.”

“I know.” Scott said softly. “But it’s still hard.”

Allison smiled in sympathy. “I had it easy.” She said. “I was the leader of the Argent clan when I fell in love with Lydia. They could do nothing but follow me into a new view. And maybe someday your mom will see it too.”

“Doubt it.” Stiles said. “Melissa’s a stubborn bitch.”

“Well she won’t be in charge forever.” Allison said. “Sooner or later everyone dies. And sooner or later everyone will see. It’s just a matter of time.”

The other three smiled. And they were happy. All of them knew that this wasn’t the end. That they’d be fighting their ingrained thoughts for a long time to come, but they were happy. Scott has Isaac. Danny has Ethan. And Stiles has Derek and Lydia as amazing friends. All of them were happy. They had what they never knew they needed. And as the moon rose it shined in the red streaks of Scott’s grown out hair.

“You going to get them again?” Stiles asked, gesturing at the streaks.

Scott ran his fingers through his hair. “I don’t know. Maybe?”

“Isaac likes them.” Danny declared. “If that’s any incentive.”

“He does?” Scott asked, blushing a bit.

Danny nodded. “I was talking to him about you a couple of weeks ago. Said he likes the red streaks. Makes you look wild. He also said something about wanting to hold them during sex but I blocked most of that out pretty effectively.”

“Hm.” Scott hummed, smirking a bit. “Then maybe I’ll get them again.”

“They can mean love instead of death this time.” Stiles suggested.

Scott grinned. “That sounds great.”

 

 

And a week later, after they calmed down a bit, Isaac took Scott to a barber’s shop to get his long hair from being in a basement for nearly four months cut and to get red streaks put back in his hair. Isaac sat there grinning the whole time and they had to go back to the hotel for a few more hours in the end before they could head to the pack house and see everyone else.

**Author's Note:**

> Come find me on [tumblr](http://perfectalphadouchebag.tumblr.com/) if you want to send me a prompt or just wanna talk!!


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